ARTICLES ABOUT MISCONDUCT BY DATE - PAGE 4

The 19-page letter from the U.S. Department of Education to colleges and universities across the nation last April made already-busy Philadelphia lawyer Gina Maisto Smith even busier. The letter emphasized that colleges had to respond to any complaint of sexual misconduct, even if the victim didn't want to press charges or otherwise pursue it. Some colleges hadn't been investigating such complaints even though a 2001 Education Department document recommended it, said Smith, a former sex-crimes prosecutor who now specializes in law involving sexual misconduct on college campuses and other institutions.

An internal investigation by the University of Pennsylvania found no evidence of research misconduct or plagiarism by two psychiatry professors - one of whom is the chair of the department - who were accused by a colleague of putting their names on a ghostwritten paper in 2001. The report said that though current standards would have required Dwight Evans, chair of Penn's psychiatry department, and Laszlo Gyulai, now an emeritus associate professor of psychiatry, to acknowledge that they had received "assistance from a medical writer," guidelines in effect in 2001 did not. Last summer, Jay D. Amsterdam, a Penn professor who also had been involved in the study of the effect of the antidepressant Paxil on depression in patients with bipolar disorder, filed a complaint with the federal Office of Research Integrity about the study.

After a yearlong investigation, the state Judicial Conduct Board has filed a formal complaint against a Chester County district judge, accusing her of giving preferential treatment to a son with a long rap sheet. Judge Rita Arnold was escorted by sheriffs Wednesday from the Downingtown District Court, and ordered to relinquish her keys and avoid contact with any employees "pending prosecution," said an order from Chester County Court President Judge James P. MacElree 3d. Arnold's attorney, Dawson R. Muth, did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected arguments from four attorneys who prosecuted Sen. Ted Stevens to keep private a report that reveals details of their mishandling of the case, but said he would not hold them criminally responsible for their "ill-gotten verdict. " U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered that a 500-page report into the Justice Department's botched corruption case against Stevens be released March 15, along with any written objections the attorneys targeted in the investigation wish to include.

The NHL will not discipline the Flyers' Tom Sestito for allegedly pulling Brandon Prust's hair during Sunday's loss to the Rangers. "That's something you don't do," Prust said, according to a report in ESPNNewYork.com. Prust seemed surprised that the league was looking into it and said he did not care whether Sestito was fined or suspended. Sestito was involved in three fights in the game, including two with defenseman Stu Bickel. Sestito was given a game misconduct for his third fight, the limit for one player in a game.

Abby Wambach has been voted the U.S. Soccer Federation's female athlete of the year for the fifth time, matching Mia Hamm 's record. Clint Dempsey has been voted top male athlete for the first time since 2007. The USSF also said Friday that Brek Shea and Sydney Leroux were the top young athletes. The U.S. women's team opened its bid to qualify for the London Olympics with a Friday game with the Dominican Republic. This weekend, Manchester United's game at Arsenal becomes the first English Premier League match to be televised live by a U.S. over-the-air network, Fox Sports.

Search resumes after Ohio blast FAIRBORN, Ohio - Police say they have resumed the search for a 75-year-old man missing after a house explosion in western Ohio injured six others and damaged neighboring homes. Fairborn Fire Marshal Carl Day said it was unlikely the unidentified man survived Saturday's blast. He said four children and two men were injured. Day says the explosion may have happened after someone working at the home ruptured an underground gas line. - AP Top court weighs Calif.

They've been identified in sworn testimony as taking part in the 2009 beating that ended in the death of Phillies fan David W. Sale Jr. But after a mistrial was declared Tuesday in the murder trial of Francis Kirchner, Charles Bowers, and James Groves, the question confronting a Philadelphia judge is whether the trio should go free because of what one defense attorney called prosecutorial misconduct. Common Pleas Court Judge Shelley Robins New declared the mistrial after four days of testimony, when a friend of the victim unexpectedly identified Kirchner, 30, as the man who made the fatal kick to Sale's head in the July 25, 2009, melee.

The Coatesville Police Department has suspended a high-ranking officer amid allegations of misconduct, according to the Coatesville City Council president. Joseph Hamrick said Wednesday that the council received word of the probe after the officer was put on paid administrative leave Aug. 22. Sources familiar with the investigation but who are not authorized to comment identified the officer as Lt. Chris McEvoy. They said he was accused of fraternizing inappropriately with a subordinate.